Archery hunters in Colorado forced to wear orange- take this poll.

[JeffRaines]

It hasn't negatively affected anyone's hunting that I know of. Who does the orange hurt? Seriously. Deer (or elk in this case) don't see orange, so how does this affect your hunt?

Maybe it hurts the feelings of the bros who paid $2k for a full Sitka/Kuiu/First Lite setup... if they're forced to wear orange they'll realize they never needed the camo in the first place... or you'll have the unsuccessful ones blaming the orange for them not filling their tags.

 

[Billy Goat]

The fact that a lot of archery elk hunters are calling and using decoys doesn't help.



I haven't ever had issue or been concerned about bear hunters, HC mule deer, or grouse hunters. But the idea of someone with a firearm hunting the same animal I am mimicking always makes me precede with caution.


I also shy away from tan colors during hunting season, I have a friend who's grandfather was killed while hunting in buckskin with his flintlock.

 

[svivian]

Ok so we start wearing orange.... then another idiot shoots someone while wearing orange..... then what? Problem solved? Doubtful. Wearing orange is not going to affect anyone's ability to harvest an animal, it has been proven many times. Wearing orange is also not going to guarantee your safety from taking a bullet by someone, it will decrease it but not eliminate it. The only way to ensure it is by separating Muzzle loader AND rifle bear hunters from Archery season.

We have all called in hunters during archery season. Its going to happen especially when a new hunter hears a bugle or call. Most of us doing the calling are setting up to conceal ourselves, even wearing orange. Brush will most likely deflect and block an arrow. A lot less likely with a bullet....

Honestly I'm not really even concerned about getting shot that often. 2 hunters in 5 years with the amount of hunters we have is not bad in my opinion. I just looked at New Yorks hunting statistics and they had 9 incidents just last year. https://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/wildlife_pdf/hrsisummary.pdf

Here is a small section from it....

SMALL GAME & NONGAME 01/20 - Jefferson. While rabbit hunting, the shooter fired at brown objects that turned out to be his hunting partner’s boots, striking victim in the leg, arm, and head. Age 74. Hunting experience: 62 yrs.
02/22 - Steuben. Son shot his father in the head and upper body while squirrel hunting. Age 13. Hunting experience: 1 yr.
03/28 - Schoharie. Shooter discharged one round striking the victim in the shoulder. Shooter stated that he saw something grey and shot. Shooter had no hunting license or Hunter Safety Certificate. Age 29. Hunting experience: 0 yr.*
05/20 - Tompkins. Self-inflicted. Shooter leaned his firearm against tree while shooting at a red squirrel and it slid down and discharged, striking him in the wrist. Age 75. Hunting experience: 60 yrs. 1
0/1 - Columbia. Shooter fired a round at a pheasant, striking a person from another hunting party in the face. Age: 74. Hunting experience: 50 yrs. *
10/11 - Essex. Self-inflicted. Shooter slipped and discharged a round into his foot while squirrel hunting. Shooter did not have a NY hunting license (minimum hunting age in NY is 12). Age: 11. Hunting experience: 3 yrs out-of-state*
11/28 - Genesee. Self-inflicted. Shooter discharged one round from an air rifle while squirrel hunting, which ricocheted off a rock and hit his leg. Shooter had no hunting license or Hunter Safety Certificate. Age 15. Hunting experience: 0 yrs.

 

[sndmn11]

Ok so we start wearing orange.... then another idiot shoots someone while wearing orange..... then what? Problem solved? Doubtful. Wearing orange is not going to affect anyone's ability to harvest an animal, it has been proven many times.

I can't remember or find if this guy was wearing orange.

Man charged in Grand County shooting death of hunter from West Virginia

Harry Watkins has been charged with criminally negligent homicide in the shooting death of Simon Howell.

www.google.com

Fact: there is always an open firearms hunting season in Colorado.
Other fact: Target shooting is generally allowed on BLM/USFS property.

I think hoping for an archery season void of firearms in the area is a quick way to a very short archery season.

 

[svivian]

I can't remember or find if this guy was wearing orange.

Man charged in Grand County shooting death of hunter from West Virginia

Harry Watkins has been charged with criminally negligent homicide in the shooting death of Simon Howell.

www.google.com

Fact: there is always an open firearms hunting season in Colorado.
Other fact: Target shooting is generally allowed on BLM/USFS property.

I think hoping for an archery season void of firearms in the area is a quick way to a very short archery season.

You're certainly not wrong. Seems like we are trying to solve a problem that does not have a 100% solution so why change things is my point.

On a side note i would love a spring bear season but I know that won't happen as CPW will look like hypocrites considering they won't allow a shed season until May.... But the almighty dollar might persuade them some day

 

[CoHiCntry]

On a side note i would love a spring bear season but I know that won't happen as CPW will look like hypocrites considering they won't allow a shed season until May.... But the almighty dollar might persuade them some day

We had a spring bear season. It was banned through a ballot initiative years ago. Nothing to do with them looking like hypocrites. And not even money is gonna bring it back.

 

[svivian]

We had a spring bear season. It was banned through a ballot initiative years ago. Nothing to do with them looking like hypocrites. And not even money is gonna bring it back.

Yes i do remember that, i was referring to them bringing it back would make them look like hypocrites....

 

[MJB]

Can't fix stupid with a law

 

[chindits]

I think no orange even during rifle season. Time to thin this sport out.

 

[Pocoloco]

Ok so we start wearing orange.... then another idiot shoots someone while wearing orange..... then what? Problem solved? Doubtful. Wearing orange is not going to affect anyone's ability to harvest an animal, it has been proven many times. Wearing orange is also not going to guarantee your safety from taking a bullet by someone, it will decrease it but not eliminate it. The only way to ensure it is by separating Muzzle loader AND rifle bear hunters from Archery season.

We have all called in hunters during archery season. Its going to happen especially when a new hunter hears a bugle or call. Most of us doing the calling are setting up to conceal ourselves, even wearing orange. Brush will most likely deflect and block an arrow. A lot less likely with a bullet....

Honestly I'm not really even concerned about getting shot that often. 2 hunters in 5 years with the amount of hunters we have is not bad in my opinion. I just looked at New Yorks hunting statistics and they had 9 incidents just last year. https://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/wildlife_pdf/hrsisummary.pdf

Here is a small section from it....

SMALL GAME & NONGAME 01/20 - Jefferson. While rabbit hunting, the shooter fired at brown objects that turned out to be his hunting partner’s boots, striking victim in the leg, arm, and head. Age 74. Hunting experience: 62 yrs.
02/22 - Steuben. Son shot his father in the head and upper body while squirrel hunting. Age 13. Hunting experience: 1 yr.
03/28 - Schoharie. Shooter discharged one round striking the victim in the shoulder. Shooter stated that he saw something grey and shot. Shooter had no hunting license or Hunter Safety Certificate. Age 29. Hunting experience: 0 yr.*
05/20 - Tompkins. Self-inflicted. Shooter leaned his firearm against tree while shooting at a red squirrel and it slid down and discharged, striking him in the wrist. Age 75. Hunting experience: 60 yrs. 1
0/1 - Columbia. Shooter fired a round at a pheasant, striking a person from another hunting party in the face. Age: 74. Hunting experience: 50 yrs. *
10/11 - Essex. Self-inflicted. Shooter slipped and discharged a round into his foot while squirrel hunting. Shooter did not have a NY hunting license (minimum hunting age in NY is 12). Age: 11. Hunting experience: 3 yrs out-of-state*
11/28 - Genesee. Self-inflicted. Shooter discharged one round from an air rifle while squirrel hunting, which ricocheted off a rock and hit his leg. Shooter had no hunting license or Hunter Safety Certificate. Age 15. Hunting experience: 0 yrs.

Yep, and that is with hunter orange required among many other regs. Almost everyone wears helmets now skiing, yet ski fatalities per day skiing has not improved. Folks feel safer, ski faster, ski recklessly and die, normally when they hit a tree. Hunter Orange regs ironically could have the same effect, movement, not orange pull the trigger, shit just shot some dude in the middle of his gray backpack concealing his orange vest. Until I researched skiing fatalities, what you do when you have children, I would have guessed helmets made skiing safer, but I was wrong.

 

[Pocoloco]

I think no orange even during rifle season. Time to thin this sport out.

Welcome to my home state

 

[Fordguy]

Yep, and that is with hunter orange required among many other regs. Almost everyone wears helmets now skiing, yet ski fatalities per day skiing has not improved. Folks feel safer, ski faster, ski recklessly and die, normally when they hit a tree. Hunter Orange regs ironically could have the same effect, movement, not orange pull the trigger, shit just shot some dude in the middle of his gray backpack concealing his orange vest. Until I researched skiing fatalities, what you do when you have children, I would have guessed helmets made skiing safer, but I was wrong.

This is akin to the rule in 4-H (when I was a kid in the 80s) that required the kids in the speed/gymkhana/rodeo events to wear helmets. Sounds great, keep your brain perfectly intact so that you can enjoy every minute of your life as a quadriplegic. I hated that rule. Back then there weren't readily available, light weight, affordable helmets that met the required certification. So you wore something heavy that met the certs if you wanted to ride as a kid.
But I digress, neither my story nor yours have anything to do with hunter orange. In both of the aforementioned insurances the protective measures are designed to prevent injury based on the results of the individual's personal actions. The purpose of wearing orange (on your outer layer, not hidden under your pack) is to keep an individual safe from the actions of another. Its inexpensive, it doesn't hinder your hunting, and it could keep some individual (of questionable intelligence) from firing a shot in your direction. Will it prevent every instance? No. Is it worth it to wear orange when there are any sort of firearm hunters after the same game animals that you are actively pursuing, calling, and possibly decoying? I'd say so. I don't count on other hunters to exercise common sense, because I've seen too many who lack it. Maybe the anti-orange crowd just has more faith in their fellow outdoorsmen than I do. It's not like there are a ton of incidents where people are shot while archery hunting. Even so, I'd hate to become a statistic.
I hunt the same way I was taught to ride a motorcycle as a teen- defensively. You do as much as you can to anticipate and avoid potentially dangerous encounters, because on a bike, you're almost always going to be on the losing end in a crash. Same thing with a bullet You get hit with one, you're on the losing end, no matter what eventually happens to the guy who fired it.
Just my long winded opinion of course. People will do what they want until some regulatory agency makes a rule to change it. Some people will continue to do as they please even then. Happy (and safe) hunting, whether you wear orange or not.

 

[chindits]

Well if CPW wants to really address risk aversion they would require healthy living training. We had far more hunting fatalities due to medical issues than firearms in the jurisdictions I worked, but that doesn’t make the news and cause people to jump up and down like the gun scapegoat.

I’m a vehicle driver in this country and that is by far the riskiest thing I do and no preference points required.

 

[Glockster26]

Cut archery season by 5-7 days, and have muzzleloader season then . It ridicules that archery season is 28 days long while all others are 5-7 days.

 

[MJB]

Here in California no orange during deer season period......and we don't lack stupidity

 

[MJB]

Here in California no orange during deer season period......and we don't lack stupidity

 

[Billy Goat]

You can say that again.

 

[LONE HUNTER]

For the most over regulated state in the country ( or close to it) that surprises me a lot that California doesnt require orange.

 

[William Sublette]

Just move muzzleloader out of archery season.

Make it a late season hunt. Like December

 

[Ohiohuntr]

I agree that you can’t fix stupid, people get so excited when they see “a target” that they can’t control themselves before pulling the trigger, I’m amazed that they hit a human, let alone a deer or elk. It happens and it sucks orange may help the 1-2% but unfortunately it’s not going to solve it completely